The way that Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety sees it, it should be a no-brainer for Congress to pass a bill next month that would set minimum state standards for teen drivers' licenses. The Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act (the STANDUP Act for short) would require the states to adopt minimum standards for graduated driver licensing (GDL). And if the federal law is enacted this year, its passage could jumpstart action in state legislatures in 2011.
 
The standards are a way to reduce the number of teen driving deaths and injuries, says Jackie Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. In 2008, 2,739 drivers ages 15-20 were killed in auto accidents, and 1,654 other fatalities were passengers of young drivers. When Illinois puts its graduated driver licensing law in place, a 40 percent reduction in teens' car crashes soon followed, Gillan says.
 
Currently, nearly all states have some form of graduated licensing, but the provisions are a patchwork. Some states, such as Illinois, are deemed to have good programs, according to an analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Others, including Montana and North Dakota, where teens can get their learner's permits at 14, are rated "marginal."
 
As the name implies, a model graduated driver licensing process ensures that teenagers don't go from driver's ed to full licensure all at once. The model three-stage licensing process implements learner's permit and intermediate stages before the unrestricted driver's license is granted starting at age 18. There's also a prohibition on nighttime driving during the learner's permit and intermediate stages; a passenger restriction during the learner's permit and intermediate stage; a prohibition on non-emergency use of cell phones and other communication devices during the learner's permit and intermediate stages and issuance ages of 16 for the learner's permit and 18 for an unrestricted license.
 
Under the provisions of the STANDUP Act, states that fail to adopt the minimum standards within three years of passage could have their federal highway construction funding cut. That sanction is the key to getting states to act, Gillan says. "Without the federal law out there, it's very difficult to move the legislatures to act," she said. The fact that the uniform law could save lives doesn't seem to be enough motivation for the legislatures to act, she says.
 
"If we had a cure for cancer, would we think of giving that cure to states and saying to them, 'Whenever you get around to it, make this available' ?" Gillan asks. "Some would get it out, some wouldn't. Some might say, 'We'll put it on the shelf, and hope that the vaccine doesn't expire.' In any other public health measure, we would have no tolerance for this."
 
Congress has a long list of bills waiting for it when it goes back into session Nov. 15. But as Gillan says, "If there's any bill that has priority, why not this one?"
 
If you want to write to your member of Congress to encourage a vote on the STANDUP Act,  Safe Roads 4 Teens is making it easy. One click makes and some contact information is all it takes.